Ken Kesey (1935-2001)

One of the most celebrated figures in the counter-culture of the 1960s died in an Oregon hospital on 10 November 2001 following an operation for liver cancer. He was 66.

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Q. So, who was Ken Kesey

A. esey will always be known for the runaway success of his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which was published in 1962 when he was 27. His international fame was assured after the director Milos Forman turned the novel into an multi-Oscar-winning film starring Jack Nicholson in 1975.

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Q. What's the story

A. It's a parable of the rebellious individual pitted against a repressive, authoritarian system. Told through the voice of Chief Bromden - an American Indian giant of an inmate in a mental hospital who pretends to be mute - it is the story of McMurphy, a rebellious patient, who leads an uprising against the staff. Authority eventually wins and McMurphy is lobotomised. It was an instant bestseller and was one of the books of the early counter-culture movement in the 1960s.

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Q. That's not all he was well known for, though, is it

A. No, Kesey was equally celebrated for his drug-infused exploits. In 1964 - the year of the publication of his second novel - Sometimes a Great Notion, he and his group of fellow travellers, the self-styled Merry Pranksters, drove around America in a brightly painted bus called Further. These exploits established Kesey as one of the key figures of the burgeoning psychedelic subculture, along with luminaries such as Timothy Leary.

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The trip was inspired by Jack Kerouac's seminal 'travelogue' On the Road, and for authenticity, Kesey took along Kerouac's former sidekick Neal Cassady as his driver.

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Fuelled by LSD as the Pranksters were, the journey was interrupted by frequent drug-inspired 'happenings' which helped define what became known as the hippy movement. Kesey's adventures were later chronicled by author Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test ('electric cool-aid' being an LSD-spiked soft drink).

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Q. Did his high-profile goings-on ever bring down the wrath of the authorities

A. When the Pranksters started out LSD wasn't illegal, so they couldn't get him for that. However, he was banged up for six months in 1967 for possession of marijuana.

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Q. What happened to him after the 1960s

A. After writing such an acclaimed novel at the age of 27 and then following it up quickly with an equally highly rated second, Kesey gave up serious writing for almost three decades. He retreated to his farm and family in Oregon, where he continued to write and made occasional appearances on stage - including ones in the UK.

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He made a rare visit to the Edinburgh Festival three years ago with fellow Prankster Ken Babbs for a performance which included readings and vintage film footage from their days on the tour. They travelled in a 'Mark II' version of the original bus.

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Q. What else did he write

A. Kesey's Garage Sale (1972); Demon Box (1986); Caverns (1990); The Further Inquiry (1990); Sailor Song (1992); Last Go Round (1994); and Twister (1999).

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Q. Isn't there some Michael Douglas connection with Cuckoo's Nest

It started with his father Kirk, who wanted to turn the novel into a play. Kesey wrote the script and it opened at the Cort Theatre in New York. However, the play was deemed shocking and 'offensive to the insane', closing after only 82 performances.

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After several years of trying to bring it to the big screen Kirk sold the film rights to his son Michael - then a moderately successful TV actor (in the early 1970s he had co-starred with Karl Malden in the series The Streets of San Francisco) with aspirations as a film producer. Douglas Jr managed to convince the celebrated Czech director, Milos Forman, that the film was a worthwhile project. Between them they made a few changes to make it more suitable for film. Most significant of these is where in the book the central character is the Chief, in the film the action centres on McMurphy himself, a shift that Kesey wasn't happy about. Still, seven Oscars later, who's complaining.

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Have a look at the official Ken Kesey site at http://www.intrepidtrips.com/

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By Simon Smith